Weekly Update

We didn't get to TRB last weekend...life was just to busy. We are planning to spend Friday night on-board and I am guessing if Saturday morning is nice we will take a trip out and have some lunch at Tixel Wide or somewhere pretty.

We have a 12v lighting system with little halogen spot lights dotted around the boat and they are great and give off plenty of light, all of the bulbs are 20 watt and are bright. Just over he bed we have a cupboard and this is directly over where our heads are. There are two reading lights...both 20 watt!!! that nearly burn your eyes out. I popped to Tesco yesterday and found they do these bulbs and I found some 10watt....lets hope our sight is saved ;-)

Oh yeah and they are a heck of a lot cheaper than Midland Chandlers (which isn't hard)

TRB Update after the weekend

Yay!!! Mr Gasman has fixed the gas on board and it is now working. I popped to TRB this afternoon to see if Mr Gasman had been and that things were OK. So at the moment everything is shipshape and Bristol fashion....... well she does need a service and a blacking....


We are all set for a good season.... Lets us hope the Weather is with us this year, the pubs are open and the locks are working. If you see us give us a wave or even say hello we are quite friendly...most of the time.

First Night onboard this year

I arrived at the marina at around lunch time on Friday and saw a van saying C.O.R.G.I Gas Man...ohh I thought, I wouldn't mind him running an eye over my boat, I had lost a bottle gas over the Christmas period, and was slightly concerned...so I popped into the marine engineers to ask if he could pop to TRB. John said he was on board an Ownerships boat and to go and have a word. with Derek the Gas Man, So I did. Derek is an old school gas engineer. He said he would pop down in an hour, true to his word he came along and I explained about losing a bottle of gas...he tested the pipes, and he said yep there was a leak. After about 30 minutes he had found where it was from, a bulkhead fitting and it was leaking into the insulation, that couldn't be fixed there and then. He went away and did another job he had booked in, then came back, set about stripping the fittings. He then said ...I will have make up some parts for you...I'll be back Monday....MONDAY we were about to spend the night...and had no gas, that meant no cooking. We have an electric kettle, so we could have a mug or two of tea.

Yay, we had our first over night on TRB this year, and all was well, in spite of no gas. Well ,I was awoken in the night, by the wind and went to sleep on the hammock as I didn't want to disturb Mrs EB. Last night was very windy and being in a hammock in the wind is strange, I loved it at first, but after about half an hour I was feeling a little sick. I stuck my IPod on and listened to Stephen Fry's podcasts, that seemed to help, then it started to rain, and boy did it rain....it sounded like a machine gun was being fired against the boat, I think I got about 6 hours sleep.

So I woke up very late 10:30!!! after breakfast I suggested a short run up to Tixel Wide, just to give TRB a New Year wake up. So after making her ready we set off, the sun was shining, the sky was blue, there didn't seem to be any other boats about all was well with world. Then Mrs EB said the kettle wasn't working or the microwave...mmmm I thought. I explained how to reset the inverter. Still no joy, bugger I thought, Mrs EB took the tiller and I went to investigate...I got the manual (yeah I know but when all else fails) I couldn't find anything. I checked everything I could, but there was no power to the inverter. I thought oh crap, the inverter is broken. So I said to Mrs EB we had better turn around and head back. So after a few minutes we were at Tixel Wide Mrs EB turned her around and back toe the marina we headed.

We got back to the marina and I moored up at the marine engineers and went to find Jon, who was painting a boat, I said HEYLP!!!! he came and had a check, the main fuse was blown ,a 200amp fuse!!!!! He fitted a new 300amp fuse and hey presto all was working again. We moored up in our birth, had lunch and a mug of tea. Not the greatest starts to the year, but we have moved and had a run. Lets hope the rest of the year is going to be fantastic, with some great tips with friends.

New Year.

I haven't blogged in ages I am sorry, but the honest truth is, there hasn't really been much to Blog about. I did pop up to the The Robber Button last week and started to fix the central heating. It had a leak and that meant it wasn't working. It is a pressurised system so if the water level drops it will not work. So to it has been so cold we haven't been up. to the boat Well this is about to change it will be fixed this week so hopefully from next weekend we will be back onboard. Yay

So there should be something to blog about.....

The Marina has been frozen solid, and it is quite a beautiful sight but also very sad. The Marina is usually quite a busy place, boats coming and going but when it is frozen solid...nothing moves everything is still.

Bank Holiday Monday

Mrs EB and I went to TRB after Sunday Evenings service, we had a nice evening of just relaxing. Monday morning we had a nice planned trip, Cathy, Gaye, Andy and Zach arrived and off we set.

Mrs EB and I planned a short day trip heading north to Sandon Lock it's about a 3 hour trip with 3 locks and some beautiful countryside.


Entering Sandon Lock
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Andy trying to do the splits via a Lock wall and The Robber Button

The Day Crew minus the Galley Slave

The trip had a short break at Weston where Andy and I went for a swifty at the Woolpack (Mmmm sweet sweet beer). Then Mrs EB had the brightest idea ever, she decided to light the disposable BBQ in the galley, this was quickly put on the roof of the boat, and even quicker some logs were put under it until I could find a mooring!!!! To make it worse, Mrs EB left the cardboard wrapper on. (a quite scary few minutes)

I have to say we had an amazing day and Mrs EB cooked us a wonderful lunch and of course we had a small glass of wine or a little bottle of beer



This was a fantastic day out with some great friends.

a little update

A little update:-

Sorry I haven't blogged, there is no excuse really.

So after our little week trip up the Caldon, we returned home for a few days then we did an overnight trip up to Handsacher as Mrs EB hadn't been along that part of the Trent Mersey as I had done that part with a friend Martin when I brought TRB to Great Haywood.

This was a really nice little trip that we both enjoyed. We have been up to the boat a few times and had a little trip out with Amy. Mrs EB also popped over on her own one evening and had a wonderful peaceful evening on her own.

I have popped up a couple of times to just check that all is ship shape and Bristol Fashion and it is, I have also taken my Hammock that Mrs bought for me from Brazil. I have asked John and Jon to put the fixing hooks up for me. I have also spent some time doing their website and putting them and the Marina on to Google maps.

Days 5 & 6

Day 5 we started to head back to Great Haywood, though did do a U Turn up the Leek Branch of Caldon Canal. That was so beautiful and so pretty.
After that little trip we just kept going..... It was very interesting to notice once 6 pm came most boats were moored up for the night. It is mid summer and the nights are very long, we got to Hanley Park at about 7 pm and watched a few drug deals!! and something else...not very nice but I am guessing that is life there. I really think that the Police should be there.
Anyhoo we went through Stoke and out the other side and by 10 we were both shattered and moored up in a park.

Day 6 we awoke about 8:30 and about 10 am we set off again and just took it nice and steady at about 1200 rpm and by 7 pmish we were at Great Haywood, coming down the Trent & Mersey at about 6pm the sun was amazing it was Golden Hour and the countryside was ablaze with gold’s and other rich colours, both Mrs EB and I were just so enthralled by the light and colours.

Highs of the trip.

Spending some great us time with Mrs EB
Seeing all the wildlife and countryside
Going to The Railway at Froghall
Meeting all the nice Narrowboaters

Lows

The Black Sheep Pub
The ignorant Narrowboaters (only met 2)
The Rain

Day 4

Well we didn’t manage to go any further yesterday…Mrs EB’s joined us and we migrated to the pub then back to TRB and that was it for the evening.

Today after Mrs EB’s brother left us we headed for Froghall, after a mile or so we got held up by two BW worker who had felled a tree across the canal, so we made them a cuppa and had a chat as they cut it all up. … a nice half an hour, after we got underway the heavens opened up and did so most of the way to the mooring we are at, we stopped off at a pub "The Black Lion" for a bit of lunch and we were met with the most surly pub landlord of all, I didn’t fancy my usual tipple of real ale so looking at the beer taps I saw Grosh and I asked for a Grolsh, his reply was “We have no Grolsh!!!” as if I should have known? so I asked for a different Lager and the pub menu..again “ We are not doing food!” again as if I should have known…out side it did say Good food and Ales…stupid us for thinking they did food and ales huh?

So we are now at Froghall and we have a fire going and are showered and as warm as toast and just thinking about tea…..

And what a difference a pub makes!!! we went to The Railway at Froghall for tea...it was fantastic, I had a Fillet Steak "rare", and it was cooked perfectly. Mrs EB had a Rump steak medium and that was to die for, we then had pudding. I had Bread and Butter pud with custard and Mrs EB had Orange and Passion teardrop both were amazing, the service was great, loads of smiles and nothing too much trouble, the manager came over after we had finished and had a nice chat with us and made us feel like old friends. The meal was a good price and we felt valued customers....all in all well worth a visit if you are ever down the Froghall way.

P.S. Timelord will be pleased we have met no Klingons or Pirates so far

Day 3

Foxleys to Denford

We woke up to rain!!! I actually didn’t wake up until 9:30!!! Oh well I am on holiday. Anyhoo I set us off and within 5 minutes it was belting down, so I moored us up and battened down the hatch only for it to stop…ho hum.

Well we just pootled up the cut and stopped off between two locks at Stockton Brooke and found a really nice pub for lunch. When we got back a boat was just coming out of the lock so I made for that and Mrs EB ran up to warn the next boat coming down.

The sun was out the sky clear, it was quite windy but a wonderful trip. As we made for Denford, I called Mrs EB’s brother to warn him we were near by and to ask him if he wanted to join us for the evening and we are sat outside the Hollybush at Denford with beer in our hands waiting.

More later.

Shelagh, Sunburn & Stoke

Shelagh here! .....After only one day in the great outdoors I'm as pink as a lobster. I've even had to resort to wearing a hat - (I don't do hats).

I'm not quite sure what will end up in my sections of the but I did a lot of reading up on our destinations(s) as I always do before any trip & found a lot of useful info on other narrowboaters' blogs that wasn't in the 'official' guides, like, "when is it safe to boat through Stoke?"!

Although we've had the Robber Button since Sept, this is the first longer trip we've done & it has been wonderful to move into unchartered territory. The furthest north we had previously made it up the Trent & Mersey canal was just past Weston. Stone was absolutely charming (the restaurant was called 'La Dolce Vita' by the way ) and travelling through the locks in the centre of Stone & then Meaford (pronounced 'Method' apparently) was an absolute delight in the glorious sunshine. We encountered a couple of very helpful British Waterways guys who were repainting Trentham lock. In fact there were lots of pleasant conversations at locks, finding out where folks had come from & were heading to. I took the opportunity on each occasion to ask where to moor in Stoke having read a few scare stories in guidebooks & on the net. Everyone advised stopping anywhere on the Caldon in Stoke, and advised it was best to either moor up at Etruria by the old Festival Park site, or better still, just don't stop at all! However, as we'd set off much later than planned yesterday I couldn't see how we could get all the way through Stoke & out the other side as we would need to be travelling the reported 'dodgy' area in the late afternoon/early evening which we'd been told to avoid at all costs. More on that later!

Coming into Stoke is fascinating - there is a sudden change from rural bliss to industrial cityscape with factories, 'A' roads & train lines literally next to, or over, the canal. Having worked in Stoke at one time, Davie was intrigued to see it from such a different perpective. It was late afternoon by this time & there were lots of ordinary folks walking or cycling the towpath & it didn't feel scary at all as we went through the flight of 5 locks, the last of which (Summit lock as it is one of the highest in the country) was absolutely huge. Rather than turning into the Caldon Canal just there we continued straight ahead for 5 mins to moor at Festival Park as recommended. I didn't feel unsafe there, unlike Davie, but it did seem such a shame to moor up on about the least interesting stretch of canal we have encountered with a busy traffic bridge & Toby Carvery for a view! The advantage of being out around Midsummers day is the number of daylight hours & being only late afternoon, we still had a number of potential cruising hours left. So we made the decision to press ahead & do what everyone had said to avoid.... and I'm so glad we did!

Our first challenge was our first ever staircase locks. Fortunately British Waterways had put up idiot proof step-by-step on the lock-side. We were taking it in turns to work the locks & the paddles were so stiff I could hardly move them - I shall have huge muscles by the end of this holiday! After a stretch of 'Coronation Street' style housing we went through Hanley Park - beautiful but a couple of anxious moments as the canal is very narrow with the tow path so close to the boat, groups of lads we passed could have stepped onto the boat very easily if they wanted to. There were lots of people around & it was a beautiful stretch with overhanging trees & beautiful old victorian iron bridges. The scenery then changed to a more industrial style with old bottle kilns & derelict factories -but rather than being ugly as we had been led to believe, we felt there was so much character & we gave a few moments thought to the hundreds of boatmen travelling this route who would have seen much the same views in previous centuries. We saw signs saying Stoke Council & British Waterways are undertaking a regeneration project in the area & this was very much in evidence with a stretch of beautifully paved towpath with new moorings & other restoration work. The Ivy House lift bridge was the next challenge. Despite numerous searches on the interweb I had not been able to find out how it worked. Davie eventually figured it out but won't tell me! He says it's similar to a Krypton Factor challenge & it looks like I'll have to do it on the way back - I don't mind except that you have to stop the traffic to let the bridge come up; I really don't want to have queues of impatient motorists watching me trying to solve the puzzle!
As we exited the suburbs. pleased we had not encountered groups of towpath yobs, a rain of stones clattered into the roof of the boat & fortunately not on our heads. This happened twice more at bridges further on. At one point the perpetrators peeped over the wall of the bridge so we could see their faces - I would guess at their ages being 10 or 11. I was just thankful it was small stones & not bricks!
A sudden downpour happened just as we were passing a pub that offered an overnight mooring - how convenient! We moored up & headed for a pint after a fascinating first full day.